Camden News: Boris Johnson | Council Homes | Repairs | Alan Benson | Housing Portfolio

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Camden News - by TOM FOOT
Published: 27 November 2008

Mayor Boris Johnson at the launch of his housing strategy at the New London Architecture Centre

‘I won’t fix council homes – and neither would Ken’

Boris refuses to fund repairs and claims former Mayor had no plans to either

LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson has ripped up his predecessor’s pledge to pay for repairs to Camden’s council homes.
His aides claimed Ken Livingstone, beaten in May’s elections, would not have seen through his promise to bring the borough’s creaking housing portfolio up to national standards.
While Camden Council and the government have spent five years quarreling over who should pay for simple repairs such as re-wiring and new kitchens, Mr Livingstone pledged in his election campaign that when the budget for housing in London was passed to City Hall this year, he would act as the middle man and break the stalemate.
But Mr Johnson’s advisers said the idea that the Mayor could intervene was unrealistic and the money would instead be concentrated on new homes in other areas of the capital.
Greater London Assembly housing chief Alan Benson said: “I’ve seen Livingstone’s proposed plan, had he been elected, and it didn’t include funding for Camden’s repair bill. We have additional resources but we will not be using them for this.
“It would mean taking money away from other things. That is not an option the former Mayor was considering, and neither is Boris.”
Mr Johnson launched his housing strategy at the New London Architecture Centre in Store Street, Bloomsbury, on Thursday, although he declined to answer any “technical” questions from the New Journal.
It comes as housing campaigners pledged once more to prise funding from the government. Protesters are standing up to pressure from Whitehall to let private operators run council housing.
Trade union chief Jack Dromey, Labour MPs Frank Dobson and Austin Mitchell were among lobbyists at a rally in Bloomsbury on Tuesday for the annual conference of pressure group Defend Council Housing (DCH).
Mr Mitchell said: “We are winning, and change is on its way. There is some money for renovation and new council homes – but it is up to the local authorities to get the drive going.”
Alan Walter, a chief DCH organiser, said: “In 2000, they were boasting that all council housing was going to be privatised.
“A lot has gone, but in 2008 we still have 2.5 million council homes. We are lean and mean and still fighting. We promised to push housing to the top of the agenda. Now the government is talking about building the first council homes in years.”
Meanwhile, the Camden Association of Street Properties have written to Margaret Beckett in a bid to convince her to stop the Town Hall from selling off houses and flats to plug the funding gap.

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